Welcome to Mrs. Estes' and Mrs. Joani's Kindergarten Class at Kennesaw Charter Science and Math Academy. Thanks for checking the blog out!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Estes Extras...

We had a great week! We will be moving into full swing St. Patrick's Day stuff all next week. We finished our week off with our Chick-Fil-A celebration. Kayly and Nadia were picked for students of the month! Congrats!

I posted pictures of Dr. Seuss week before this post, so make sure you check them out!

If you are still in need of volunteer hours, check the tab  "Volunteer Hours" and sign up. I changed it where, there is no password needed- so sign up. If you are unable to come in, I am also looking for someone who is willing to "print" out their hours. There is a wonderful website called reading a-z and it has tons leveled books on it. We use these books in our book boxes in literacy centers and in guided reading. If you have a printer and are willing to just print all the books out to a certain level let me know. There would be no cutting/coloring/stapling involved. I would love to give you the hours. Contact me. :)

Specials next week: Monday: P.E., Tuesday: Media, Wednesday: Music, Thursday: P.E., Friday: Spanish. Library Books are due: Monday!

We read some really great books this week about being nice to our friends ant not being a bully. We talked a lot and even did some role playing about being a bully and what we can do if we have people being mean to us. If the word "bully" starts coming home, it's because we talked about it at school and how to prevent it and what not to become one. Thanks to continuing this conversation at home too!

Remember we only buy ice cream on Fridays, so if you want your child to eat ice cream, send it on Fridays.

Academic Update:

Literacy: We are still continuing our farm unit. Don't stop reading. This week we started talking about word that have double meaning, like fly/fly and bat/bat. We are still working on breaking up the words into the sounds we hear: /c/ /a/ /t/.

Math: We have started our unit on measurement. We have jumped right in our length and shortest to longest. We measured our huge classroom it's 11 kindergarten students by 4 kindergarten students. I think we figured it's about 33 steps by 12 steps. Oh the fun of measurement!

Have a great weekend. I think it's going to be great weather! :)

Dr. Seuss

Click here to view these pictures larger

Friday, March 4, 2011

Estes Extras...

We were ObSEUSSed this week! :) We had a great time reading and talking all about Dr. Seuss. We had a very exciting week overall. I'm sure you have heard all about Mrs. Porter's quail eggs. We had 1 that hatched. Our class does a lot with Mrs. Porter's class. We have loved watching these quail eggs rotate in the incubator for 17 days and finally 1 has hatched! The quail baby is so cute. I took pictures of it.

Specials for next week are: Monday: Media, Tuesday: Music, Wednesday: P.E., Thursday: Spanish, Friday: Art. LIBRARY BOOK ARE DUE MONDAY!!!

So check out this blog! I have really been working on making it nice for y'all. Please take the time to look around it. I will keep adding things to it.

We are excited to have Paris join our class! She will fit in just great!

Academic Update:

Literacy: Dr. Seuss is all we did this week and rhyming galore. We had lots of students read to the class Dr. Seuss books. Dr. Seuss books are a great way to help with reading sight words. We are starting a new unit about the farm.

Math: We completed our chapter on Calendar this week. We will be beginning a new chapter on Monday.

Science: Beginning started talking about plants. I bought a planter and I put soil and we planted seeds in it. We tied it in with the Dr. Seuss book Oh Say Can You Seed. The pictures are cute! Can't wait to watch our flowers grow!

The language that is coming into the classroom that is being heard from the tv/radio/video games is starting to be not kid friendly. Things like "What the...", "booty", "sucks".. etc is not appropriate classroom talk. Please continue to talk to your child about appropriate classroom talk. That is very much appreciated. :)

Have a great weekend. Try to stay dry from all the rain that is coming our way!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Estes Extras...

Whoa, we had a fabulous week! We started the week of with a great Valentine's party. A special thank you to Victor's mom and Kayly's mom who came and helped! We had such a fun time! :) Next week is going to be awesome too- it's our Winter Break! Yay- we are out all week! Enjoy your week off!

We have super exciting news!!! I posted a project on a website called http://www.donorschoose.org/. The project that I posted on the website was to get a listening center funded for the classroom. I sent an e-mail about 2 weeks ago about funding it. I asked for y'all to send a text. With the 15 texts that I received from a few parents, friends and family, we donated $225 to my project! I only had $36 dollars to go! On Wednesday, I got word that two different donors, US Cellular Associates and a couple (who I didn't know!) donated the rest! What a blessing!!  So, our listening center will arriving in the mail very soon! I screamed with joy and we all cheered and danced, when I got the e-mail that project had been completed! I buy audio books with the points from scholastic when I get parents order. That's why I send the order forms home so much. SO AWESOME!

More exciting news! My husband and I moved our TV that was in our bedroom into the classroom last night. Not only do we have a TV in the room, but I bought a cord that connects the TV to my laptop. I now can stream anything that is on the Internet/on the computer to the TV for the class to see. I showed a PowerPoint about National Monuments today. It was so awesome. The kids think it's super cool. We don't watch movies very often. And now that I can stream Internet and show PowerPoint's, I just upped the technology in the classroom! So Awesome!

Specials: Monday: Music, Tuesday: P.E., Wednesday: Spanish, Thursday: Art, Friday: P.E.

Library books went home today. They are due next Friday. We will be visiting the library the following Monday.

Please talk to your children about respecting and treating my property with care. Actually, the the school and any one's property with care too.  I had two different things get broken this week that I bought with my own money. Everything in the classroom, except for the tables/chairs/computers is mine. I have saved and overspent my paychecks to have good stuff for my babies here at school. I talk all the time about not drawing on the buckets/books/games and treating the toys as if the toys were at their own home. Everything was brand new as of this school year. I really appreciate your help with this continuing topic.

Academic Update:

Literacy Center: We have finished up our unit on Wheels! We did lots of stuff on Presidents within the literacy centers. Keep reading and working on our sigh words. Have your child write 2-3 sentences about what they just read. We are really pushing using the sight words we know, in our writing!

Math: We are still in our calendar unit. The test will be sometime next week, probably later in the week. We are also really learning about time. Practice telling time and looking at a calendar. Ask questions like "Point to Monday, How many days are there in this month?, What is the next month?, What was last month?"

Social Studies: We really talked about Presidents this week. All about Washington, Lincoln, and Obama. We learned lots of cool stuff about the national monuments around the U.S.

Don't forget about the Research Project. It is due on MONDAY! Can't wait to see them!

Have a super week. I think it's going to be great weather! Rest up and looking forward to seeing everyone in a week! :) Good Bye February and Hello March!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Estes Extras...

Whew! What a week! Can't believe it's already Friday. We had a GREAT week! Next week is going to be a big week. Monday is Valentine's Day! Yay! We are having our party. The kids are so excited. We have been counting down for weeks until this party. Thank you for those who signed up for bringing things to the party. I bought sprite to go with the juice and we will have popcorn as well the other items at the party. If you want to send in or bring something else, that is fine too! Parents are welcome to come! It will be Monday, 1:30 in the classroom! Please don't forget to get a box of Valentine's for your child to hand out at the party. We have decorated bags to put them in. Don't leave anyone out in our class. Here is the list of students, if your list got lost in the mix:
Nadia
Victor
Kayly
Carla
Nicholas
Aylin
Matheus
Camille
Michael
Jordan
Sofia
Elianna
Aijah
We had our Chick-Fl-A Student of the Month celebration today. Camille, Elianna, Carla and Sofia were chosen for the students of the months for January and February. Congrats!

Specials: Monday:P.E., Tuesday: Spanish, Wednesday: Art, Thursday: P.E., Friday: Media

Library books are due on Thursday. We are visiting the library on Friday.

We are having a research project for the month of February. It's due the Monday, the get back from winter break: Feb 28th! Start thinking of some good ideas for it.

SNACK! The kids love this time of day, they are starving by 1:00! Please remember to send some-what healthy snacks. No chips/cookie, preferably. We have new carpet and the chip crumbs... ugh. AND the sugar high becomes a sugar low... Also, we are now starting to want to share with those who bring chips/cookies becuase we don't want the snack we brought. We don't share snack. I can't provide snack either. Thank you for your help with this! :)

Academic Update:

Literacy:
We started a new unit this week: All about wheels! It's been super fun. We have also been doing lots of Valentine's Day activities too! Keep reading as much as you can at home and working on your sight words.

Math:
We started a new unit this week: Time/Calendar! So far we have learned about analog and digital clocks and starting to tell time to the hour. 

Science: We talked about motion and Elianna's dad taught us a cool lesson on magnetic force. We had lots of fun using magnets.

A reminder about early check-outs. When we have a party or school event and you want to check your child out early, please go to the front and sign them out. Once we have a note or get a call down from the office, we are able to let your child go with you. We can not let your child leave with you, without you formally signing them out. This is just a safety precaution. Thanks for helping me with this.

Have a lovely Valentine's weekend! :)   

Friday, February 4, 2011

Estes Extras...

Awesome Week! :) I enjoyed meeting almost everyone at conferences this week. We are all making really great progress!! I'm so proud! The 100th day of school came and went. We had a great time with our mini celebration. I loved all the creative projects! Way to go! I have pictures to share on the blog! However, I can not put them on here until I receive everyone's permission slip about posting on the blog. For those who do not send it in, I will have to go back and delete the pictures of them in previous postings. PLEASE send them in!!

We are having a Valentine's day party on Monday, February 14th at 1:30. A note with everyone's names on it will go home on Monday. I'm trying something new for this party- the sign up is on the BLOG! Yay! On the right side, click on the link and it will take you right to the party sign-up. E-mail me if you have questions. I didn't put a password on the sign-ups.

Specials: Monday: Spanish, Tuesday: Art, Wednesday: P.E., Thursday: Media, Friday: Music. Library books are due on Wednesday. :)

Academic Update:

Literacy: We have finished our unit on Sunshine and Raindrops... which was so appropriate since it rained all week! Keep working on sight words and putting them into our writing. Our next unit is about wheels and motion.

Math: We finished up the chapter on Money this week. We are starting a new chapter on Monday. We all did really well on the money test. Even though the unit is finished, keep working  reinforcing the coin names and amounts. Also keep working on or numbers. We are still having trouble with writing them forward and saying them backwards. A great way to correct a backwards number or letter... is to use a highlighter and write the number multiple times. They will get use to tracing over the number/letter and eventually correct the problem.

Science: We talked, wrote and did activities about healthy eating habits and about our teeth.

Thank you for reading the class blog, being in constant contact with me and for all the support at home. The more we work together, the better your child can succeed. I appreciate everything that y'all do for me, thank you again for your at home support.  Have a wonderful weekend!